One Step Closer to Implementing the Interim Remedy – EPA and DOJ Reach $9 Million Settlement for Interim Cleanup of CTS Site in Asheville, N.C.

On November 22, 2016 the USEPA issued the following notice:

“Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced that CTS Corporation, Mills Gap Road Associates and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation have agreed to spend an estimated $9 million on an interim cleanup at the CTS of Asheville, Inc. Superfund Site in Asheville, N.C.

The settlement requires the companies to undertake a two-phase process to treat the source of contamination in the groundwater beneath the former electronics manufacturing and electroplating facility at 235 Mills Gap Road in Asheville. The remedial work will begin in 2017 and will be overseen by the EPA and its contractors. The cleanup plan will address an estimated 208,250 cubic yards of material in the saturated zone between the observed water table and top of competent bedrock. The technology is expected to reduce trichloroethene (TCE) concentrations by 95 percent.

The first phase will involve Electrical Resistance Heating (ERH) to treat the Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (NAPL), consisting of fuel oil comingled with TCE, in an approximate 1.2-acre area under the former facility. The second phase will use In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) to treat TCE in an approximately 1.9-acre area to the north of the area being treated by ERH. The cleanup plan was expanded to include this second phase in response to public input.

The settlement agreement is memorialized in a Consent Decree, on which the public will soon be invited to comment. Information on how to comment on the Consent Decree will be provided by EPA and will be available on the Department of Justice’s website at www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.”

Responding to this notice, CTS Corporation has always wanted to get started on the cleanup of the site in the shortest possible time. Formal lodging of the agreement with EPA and other responsible parties brings us a step closer to implementing the interim remedy. We look forward to beginning the agreed cleanup, which offers the best approach to address the primary source of contaminants at the site.